1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to ceramic multilayer components that are provided on a mounting surface thereof with terminal electrodes that are connected to internal electrodes through via hole conductors.
2. Description of the Related Art
To date, ceramic multilayer components such as that disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-59533 have been used in electronic circuits of cellular phones and so forth.
A mounting surface of a ceramic multilayer component 300 disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-59533 is illustrated in FIG. 3.
The ceramic multilayer component 300 includes a ceramic multilayer body 110 inside of which circuit patterns (not illustrated) that function as inductor elements, capacitor elements and so forth are formed.
A plurality of terminal electrodes 104a are provided in the center of a mounting surface of the ceramic multilayer body 110 and a plurality of terminal electrodes 104b are provided around the periphery of the mounting surface of the ceramic multilayer body 110.
The plurality of terminal electrodes 104a, which are formed in the center of the mounting surface, are connected to circuit patterns formed inside the ceramic multilayer body 110 through via hole conductors 103 formed directly below the terminal electrodes 104a. 
A high degree of flatness is demanded for the mounting surface of the thus-structured ceramic multilayer component 300 in order to realize good mountability, a property of good contact with terminals for measurement of characteristics, good transportability and so forth.
However, sometimes a material having a percentage of shrinkage at the time of firing that is smaller than that of the ceramic multilayer body 110 is used as the material of the via hole conductors 103 in the above-described ceramic multilayer component 300 of the related art. In such a case, sometimes the via hole conductors 103 formed directly below the terminal electrodes 104a protrude out from the surrounding ceramic multilayer body 110 upon being subjected to firing and a sufficient degree of flatness is not obtained for the mounting surface.
In particular, the degree of protruding of the via hole conductors 103 caused by firing becomes larger and the insufficient degree of flatness of the mounting surface becomes more noticeable in the case where the distance between adjacent via hole conductors 103 has been made smaller in order to, for example, decrease the size of the ceramic multilayer component 300.